Of all the things Community is good at - references, story structure, being a weekly showcase for Joel McHale's hair - one of the things the show has struggled with throughout its run has been in deploying its guest stars. Season one had a blink-and-you'll-miss-him cameo from Drew Carey as the head of Jeff Winger's old law firm, Hilary Duff in the "wait, was that Hilary Duff?" role, and The Wire's Michael K Williams in a recurring part as the study group's biology professor in season three. All great performers who weren't given a whole lot to work with. There was still some examples of that in this season, including turns by Nathan Fillion and Kumail Nanjiani which were much-hyped and didn't really add up to much, and why was Ben Folds in it? But they also brought in some regular supporting cast and cameos that hit the target. Most notably Jonathan Banks - Mike from Breaking Bad! - was a brilliant replacement for both Troy and Pierce (Donald Glover departing halfway through the season to work on his own show, Chevy Chase gone due to...well, being Chevy Chase), with great timing, gruffness and Jim the Duck. It was good to see John Oliver back as Professor Duncan, too, revelling in the pomposity Jeff has grown out off and eccentricities that are too much for Abed and not quite to Chang levels. Some of the cameos really came off well to boot, including turns by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz and Breaking Bad mastermind Vince Gilligan. We also got larger parts for Walton Goggins and David Cross, along with - perhaps most surprisingly - Chevy Chase in hologram form, getting a proper sign-off. And LeVar Burton came back!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
